If a paleo pup would ask me in which equipment to invest first, aside from a powerful blender a foam roller would be on top of my list. If you don't have one, get one. It's good for you. No matter if you're an endurance athlete, crossfitter or just starting out, a foam roller should be part of your daily regime.

Using a foam roller benefits a faster recovery, improves mobility, and therefore prevents injuries. It's not as pleasant as an aroma therapy massage but more effective, and almost less painful than a cheapo bender massage in Shenzhen (and much safer).

How it works

When we workout most of the time we will suffer from micro tears in our muscle tissue. That is normal, it makes our tissue stronger. Ideally the course of post workout recovery is we get sore and are less mobile. That is due to inflammation agents released by the body It's the body's natural reaction to cordon off the damaged area. It prevents us from exessively moving that sore muscle while it's getting fixed. In that time the body makes the tissue stronger and more resilient. We then recover and show better performance next time.

Unfortunately it is often the case that we don't recover properly. Due to a lingering injury, exessive stress, constant straining and/or not enough recovery time the body keeps releasing inflammation agents until that area is too immobile. Gunked up with inflammation agents adhesions and scar tissue form in that area. They develop into small dense knots also known as trigger points and we experience pain and stiffness.

Cummulative Injury Cycle

This may later lead to muscle imbalances in which some muscle groups become tigther than others and are more prone to injuries.

There is a whole list of possible injuries due to muscle imbalances. To name a few: plantar fasciitis, shin splints, patellar tendonitis, lower back pain, runner's knee, rotator cuff impingement, even headaches.

When you use a foam roller you can act against this cumulative injury cycle by directly breaking up those knots, allowing the body to get through the inflammation and fix itself again.

Can't I just stretch?

The probem with just stretching is that it only improves the mobility of healthy tissue. The knots will stay. The foam roller is your precision to tool to directly target those pesky little buggers. And very easy to use.

All you have to do is roll back and forth across the stiff area for 60 seconds while avoiding bony areas and joints. Make an effort and spend extra time over the trigger point or knot itself. No worries, you will immediately know when you hit a trigger point as you will feel the urge to strongly express profanities.

The Big Five

According to the triggerpoint performance therapy there 5 areas which are prone to stiff knots.

There are several foam rollers in different density, diameters and length. Depending how stiff you are or if you are a walking trigger point bundle you might want to start out with a softer one. We would not want the cursing to get out of hand.

I ordered my Blackroll Orange foam roller from Amazon Germany. If I can get 10 orders together I could order that foam roller for HKD 330 (inkl. shipping). If you are interested let me know.

When to foam roll?

Foam rolling can be done as a warm up but I prefer to roll it after dinner in front of the TV. Many articles recommend 3 times a week but I agree with my foam rolling guru Adrian Li from LGN studios who recommends to go on knot attack every day. Make it your evening prayer since rolling over trigger points will make you call out to God anyway.

There are several helpful articles on the internet and videos on YouTube. But I am also planning to hold a complimentary foam roll seminar in the next coming weeks. So watch this space.